Articles

At least 16 people have lost their lives in a vicious suicide bombing which took place in a mosque in Iraq. The tragedy occurred during the Friday prayers in a mosque in Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit. This has been the second major attack in recent times.

Over 54 people are among the wounded and some of them are in a critical condition. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Tikrit was Saddam’s home town and several of his close relatives still live there.

A recent event in Malaysia has outraged the world community. A circle of foreign prostitutes were detained by the police forces and branded by having nicks and cuts inflicted on their bodies. They were bound in chains and on the whole the treatment meted out to them was very dehumanizing.

A nightclub was raided in northern Penang state where the females who were illegally plying their trade were arrested. After news got out of the savage manner in which they were handled, activists, lawyers and politicians severely criticized the police for the breach in ethics.

The Sudanese are in the eye of the hurricane. With brutality, aggression and barbarism rife, there is little to look forward to in a country 70% of whose population consists of Muslims. North and South factions battle it out in a no-holds barred match of sheer force.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Army has fought a vicious battle with the North and from the looks of it civil war looms on the horizon. Human rights have been abused from both sides of the line. Now even aid has been reduced to a bare trickle since the violence makes the African nation a dangerous place to be.

Just two days after the lifting of a martial law, Bahrain saw protesters come out on the streets to cause a commotion. Police were called in and they fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Bahrain has a unique situation where the ruler is a Sunni while the majority of citizens are Shiite.

The ruler requested the support of his neighboring country (Saudi Arabia) when the protests began. Here the first signs of double standards are obvious. When Kuwait was invaded by Saddam approximately two decades ago the US intervened with force. However, in Bahrain’s case since the invader is Saudi Arabia, upon whose oil the West is dependent, no such action was taken.

The Yemeni Premier was lightly wounded in an attack with mortar shells on his compound in Sanaa. The dissidents which include the Ahmar Tribe have really done it this time. Ali Abdullah Saleh along with a few other officials were wounded when shells struck a mosque in the presidential palace.

The Premier is said to have spoken of how he will address his people shortly. This is a wise decision seeing the state of affairs in Yemen which are truly dismal. The revolutionary forces have refused to budge from their stance which is for greater human rights and an end to poverty.

After Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Egypt of aiding Al-Qaeda terrorists, the Egyptian authorities vehemently denied this. In the words of National Security Chief, Hamed Abdullah, “There are no members of the AL-Qaeda organization in Egypt. What has been said is baseless.”

Israel has reasons to be wary. Hosni Mubarak’s government was on friendly terms with Israel. But the new government in Egypt has not only opened access to the Gaza Strip but brokered a peace agreement between Hamas and Al Fatah. Israel considers Hamas to be a terrorist group.